The Road Goes Ever On and On
by Surreysmum
Summary: Complete! Gentle Legolas Aragorn slash, set about 50 years before the ringwar. Legolas and Aragorn journey together; the tale of their adventures is told in 50 linked drabbles or quasi-drabbles suggested by 50 prompt words.
1. Prompt 1: prairie

Sorry in advance for the long explanation. This is half story, half writing exercise. Last fall, someone came up with 50 prompt words, and I chose to try to write a sequence of 50 drabbles that make up a gentle Legolas Aragorn slash story (nothing graphic). But keeping each segment to exactly 100 words proved too difficult for my wordy brain, and after a dozen, I got discouraged and quit. So after about the 15th drabble, the word count is anywhere betwen 100 and 250 words.

Obviously, reading this will be a bit different from reading a _real _story - it'll be bumpier and a lot more episodic - so if you loathe reading little dribblets of prose, you might want to skip this one.

Here are the words (sorry about the long list; the table formatting disappeared):

**fifty; ****birthday; ****cake; ****candle; ****gift; ****pensive; ****artistic; ****bright; ****poetry; ****river; ****lord; ****horse; ****soldier; ****road; ****sell; ****scent; ****save; ****sea; ****feather; ****promise; ****double; ****shore; ****prairie; ****child; ****fight; ****high; ****bow; ****tree; ****grant; ****greet; ****blood; ****hand(s); ****stern; ****kiss; ****hair; ****wind; ****life; ****death; ****bed; ****apple(s); ****water; ****fire; ****safe; ****angel; ****worship; ****bread; ****sand; ****air; ****red; ****cloud(s) **

Prompt 1: _Prairie_

The daylight was bright and harsh, and the wind was chill. Yet the man on horseback, travelling at high speed through the long, yellowing grass had a broad grin on his face. Shouting aloud, he urged his eager steed to gallop ever faster.

It was a good horse, but no thoroughbred, and there were no signs of high breeding about the man, either. With long hair flying free in the wind, a heavy, plain cloak about his shoulders, and serviceable steel at his hip, he seemed a nomadic adventurer, self-reliant and self-sufficient.

Aragorn had never been fond of court life.

_tbc_


	2. Prompt 2: soldier

Prompt 2: _Soldier_

Aragorn slowed his steed to a walk, patting and praising him. Their gallop had been a rare joyous moment.

A cloud settled over the bearded face as the warrior considered his mission. He was only a messenger for now, but he was a messenger who had the confidence of his King, and he knew the contents of his despatch; the gravity thereof. Orcs were raiding the hilly farms and villages of Rohan with impunity. Thengel begged the Lady Galadriel's advice, for the creatures surely did not act alone.

Aragorn wondered how long it would be before raiding turned to war.

_tbc_


	3. Prompt 3: bright

Prompt: _Bright_

The air was clear, and the Ranger could see many miles. Not far in the distance lay the road he planned to join, and upon its length he could see a couple of dust-clouds where wagons lumbered along.

Half-way along the road, the sun caught something shiny, reflecting a small, brilliant beam into Aragorn's eye. He urged the horse forward, already half-suspecting what it might be. Within seconds the beam resolved itself into a beloved figure: shiny mithril horse-tack, gleaming golden hair, radiant silver knives.

"Legolas!" cried Aragorn, urging the horse to a gallop. "Legolas!"

And his eyes were bright.

_tbc_

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	4. Prompt 4: greet

Prompt no. 4: _Greet_

"Good day to you, sir Elf," said Aragorn gravely as he drew his horse alongside Legolas'.

"Good morrow to you, Ranger," responded Legolas with a respectful nod.

They both burst out laughing as they flung themselves from their horses and into each other's arms.

"It has been too long, Aragorn," murmured the Elf into the Man's ear. Aragorn drew back. "Sorry, Thorongil," amended Legolas.

"Nay, when we are alone, it is always Aragorn, _meleth-nín_." Aragorn glanced both ways before pressing a kiss to the Elf's cheek.

"Travel you to Lothlorien?" asked Legolas.

"Aye. You?"

"And beyond."

"Let us keep company."

_tbc_


	5. Prompt 5: pensive

Prompt: _Pensive_

Aragorn cast a glance at the Elf at his side. They rode at a measured pace, and having exchanged their news, now accompanied one another in comfortable silence. However, Legolas' usually serene face was marred by a crinkled brow.

"You are pensive," ventured the Ranger.

Legolas' smile was obviously summoned with an effort. "I told you I was visiting first Lothlorien and then Imladris," he said. "But I did not explain why."

Aragorn encouraged him with a look. "Mirkwood has long been under siege by its spiders," the Elf went on sadly. "But I fear they are winning."

"Go on…"

_tbc_


	6. Prompt 6: tree

Prompt 6 : _Tree_

"From a child I have loved trees," Legolas said, "but one in particular fascinated me. It was far from my father's halls and as old, I believe, as those in Fangorn. I have spent endless hours amongst its boughs, swaying in the wind as it whispered ancient secrets in my ears. I thought that tree was immortal, rooted so deeply and strongly in Arda that it would perish only at the end of the world."

"The spiders," murmured Aragorn, understanding.

"They have invaded it, enwrapped it, sucked its life away. It is but a foretaste of the choking to come."

_tbc_


	7. Prompt 7: double

Prompt: _Double_

"Let us speak of happier things," said the Elf. "Tell me of your Imladris family, for I do not know them well. Your foster-brothers, for instance - I must admit that I have not yet learned to tell one from the other!"

Aragorn smiled. "You would not be the first," he replied. "I have never forgotten the dreadful day when I whispered a gossipy secret about Elrohir and his ladylove to Elrohir himself!"

Legolas grinned. "So how are they to be distinguished?"

"I will tell you an infallible way," Aragorn replied with a wink. "Elladan garbs himself to the right!"

_tbc_


	8. Prompt 8: stern

_Prompt_: **Stern**

Aragorn could listen forever to Legolas' silvery laughter, but it died away eventually. "And Elrond?" the Elf asked. "I respect and admire him greatly, but he always seems so stern."

The Ranger smiled slightly. "So he would have the world believe." He cast his mind back to an ailing Human boy, much more prone to childhood illnesses than an Elfling, curled up and comforted in his foster-father's arms. "Duty is his creed, and caring for others is his duty," he explained affectionately. "He will never fail you if he can help it. The sternness is but crust upon the pudding."

_tbc_


	9. Prompt 9: bed

Prompt: _Bed_

As the sun began its slow slide behind the Misty Mountains, Aragorn asked, "Should we seek an inn?"

"It is not yet winter," responded Legolas, surprised. "Are you growing soft, my Ranger?" He pointed out a nearby orchard, grass still lush and green despite the lateness of the year.

"Soft? Nay, not in present company," growled Aragorn quietly.

Legolas laughed in delight. "All the more reason to make our bed swiftly!"

And when at last they were stretched side by side beneath a sheltering tree, Legolas wrapped firmly in his embrace, Aragorn decided no inn ever had a better bed.

_tbc_

_[I'm curious about my readers - be sure to visit the new poll on my profile page! Thanks!]_


	10. Prompt 10: worship

_Prompt_: Worship

It was midnight, but the night was not still, for the owls and nightingales sang their endless fugues. The moonlight came patchily through the leaves of the tree and played upon the angles of Legolas' face as Aragorn, propped serenely upon one elbow, looked down upon his sleeping love and adored.

Unaffected by the autumn chill, Legolas lay uncovered to the waist, his smooth white skin bared to the Ranger's hovering fingertips. At length, Aragorn gave into temptation and gently brushed one of the peaked nipples.

A smile on his lips, Legolas murmured, "You know, _you_ are the beautiful one."

_tbc_


	11. Prompt 11: red

Prompt: _Red_

Blushing furiously, Aragorn started to withdraw his hand, but Legolas stayed it with a strong grip. He was determined to win this loving argument no matter how many times it took.

"Do not look away," whispered the Elf urgently.

"Beautiful!" muttered Aragon, embarassed.

"Yes, beautiful," said Legolas, cupping the man's face. "Beautiful." He passed a hand across the strong shoulders. "Beautiful." He pulled the cloak aside to touch the powerful, downy thighs. "Beautiful," he said with a smile as he caressed the half-aroused organ.

He put his hand over the Ranger's beating heart. "And this - the most beautiful of all."

_tbc_


	12. Prompt 12: apple

Prompt 12: _Apple_

A lone apple dangled unharvested though it was succulent and ripe. It had swung unnoticed through shortening days; now its stalk was weak and it was ready to fall.

The apple was as undisturbed by breeze-rattled leaves as by the animal grunts that arose from the ground. A squirrel scrabbled upwards, frightened by the commotion below, but thickly-uttered invocations to the Valar made no difference to the tenacious apple. Then the tree-trunk shuddered under some heedless weight flung against it, and the luscious fruit fell at last into the grass.

A hand languidly seized upon it. "Are you hungry, _meleth_?"

_tbc_


	13. Prompt 13: child

_Prompt 13: __Child _

Aragorn and Legolas set out on the road before sunrise, in the chill gloom. The birds' chirping pierced through the mist, and their horses' hooves echoed.

"What is that?" Legolas asked suddenly. Aragorn strained to see. Cautiously they drew close to the shifting bundle of rags at the side of the road. It emitted a strange snuffling noise. Was it an animal entrapped in clothes from a washing line? An orc lying in ambush?

It lifted its head and large eyes brimming with tears regarded them. "Good morrow, masters," it said indistinctly.

"It is a girl child!" exclaimed the Ranger.

_tbc_


	14. Prompt 14: sell

_Prompt 14: Sell_

"Have you broken your fasts today, my Lords?" the little girl asked. "My mother would be most pleased to prepare you a little food for a trifling consideration." She had obviously been rehearsed in the speech.

Aragorn crouched down before her and cocked his head. "You wish to sell us breakfast?"

"Aye," she said, and stepped hastily backwards away from him. "Do not be angry with me, sir! Since the orcs came and killed my Papa, we have no other way to live."

Aragorn looked significantly at Legolas, then sighed. "I am not angry, little one. Take us to your mother."

_tbc_


	15. Prompt 15: cake

_Prompt 15: cake_

The mother was hard-featured and old before her time. She gave a sharp look at the strangers (the Elf in particular) before she forced a smile.

"I am Mairgret. Are you gentlemen wanting some hotcakes?"

"Aye, your wee'un is most persuasive," replied Aragorn, smiling at the child.

"One copper piece each."

The hotcakes were coarse and lumpy, but filling. The Ranger made near-sincere appreciative noises.

There was a clatter in the farmyard. Mairgret forced back a scream with the back of one hand, and with the other pushed the child forcefully into what looked like a cellar, bolting it.

"Orcs!"

_tbc_


	16. Prompt 16: fight

_Prompt 16: Fight _

There were four orcs. Misjudging by looks, one engaged the Elf, while three converged on Aragorn.

Legolas dispatched his foe swiftly with a stroke of his long knife, then turned to Aragorn. One orc already lay in two pieces, but the two that remained were pressing the Ranger hard, up against a barn door.

Aragorn fought ferociously; he shoved the enemy upon his left hand back, and back again, with his heavy shield, while with his sword hand he held the other's club at bay.

All this Legolas took in at a glance. He placed an arrow to his bow.

_tbc_


	17. Prompt 17: bow

_Prompt 17: Bow _

The orcs assailed Aragorn, winding and bruising him with blunt but telling blows that he could not entirely deflect. Sooner or later their unrelenting battery would render him dazed and vulnerable to a skull-crushing blow or the thrust of a knife in the ribs.

Two gnarled arms arose, brandishing weapons, on either side of the Ranger. Legolas set his teeth, steadied his aim, and with the patience of his kind awaited the precise moment to act.

Twang of bowstring gave way to a muffled thud and cries of beastly agony, ceasing suddenly as Aragorn and Legolas finished the orcs off.

"Good shot," said Aragorn, looking at their suspended prey. With a single arrow, Legolas had nailed one hand of each orc to the barn.

_tbc_


	18. Prompt 18: bread

_Prompt 18: Bread _

"You cannot stay here," said Aragorn decisively to Mairgret. "'Tis much too perilous. Have you relatives nearby?"

Mairgret had already started to bundle her few possessions into a canvas sack, though she did so with trembling hands that belied her stern demeanour. "My uncle's family is closest, sir, but it is more than a day's walk away. I had thought it unsafe to take Amye unprotected on the road at night, but now I fear I must."

"We will escort you," the Ranger said immediately.

Mairgret blinked back her tears as she pulled two loaves of bread from her larder and added them to her small hoard. "I thank you, sir."

_tbc_


	19. Prompt 19: horse

_Prompt 19: Horse_

Amye gazed up in awe to where Legolas sat, shining, atop his pure white stallion. "The horse is so_ big_," she breathed.

Aragorn smiled and crouched down to her. "He is a very big horse," he agreed. "But very clever and gentle."

"I am afraid," she whispered into his ear, and started nervously as the horse shifted its front hooves.

Aragorn lifted her, transferring her smoothly into Legolas' arms. "You are in the safest place in the world," he told her. "Legolas is a strong and good Elf - he will never let you fall." And this time his smile was for the Elf alone.

_tbc_


	20. Prompt 20: scent

_Prompt 20: Scent _

Though he seemed to be paying all his attention to Mairgret where she perched in front of him ("I have not ridden in a long while," she apologized), Aragorn was acutely aware of how Legolas relaxed when their road took them into heavy forest. The Ranger breathed deeply of the welcoming tree-scents.

Amye sang softly to herself, or perhaps to Legolas' great white horse, with whom she had quickly become fast friends.

All of a sudden, Legolas stiffened in the saddle, lifting his face to the wind, eyes searching, ears straining; and of this, too, Aragorn was acutely aware. "What is it, _mellon_?"

Legolas' eyes darkened. "Smoke."

_tbc_


	21. Prompt 21: fire

_Prompt 21: Fire _

The dread word had barely passed Legolas' lips when they found themselves surrounded on all sides by leaping flames, much too quickly for the blaze to have been caused by any means but magic.

"This way!" cried the Ranger, alighting and seizing the bridles of the terrified horses. Amye howled as they pushed swiftly through a thin but searing wall of flame, mercifully finding beyond it a little stream whose presence Aragorn had unconsciously noted as they travelled.

Legolas took charge of the horses, calming them with soft Elven speech and taking them to the very centre of the stream, though it was barely knee-deep. Aragorn gathered Mairgret and Amye to him, trying to shield them from the suffocating heat and flying sparks.

It seemed hopeless.

_tbc_


	22. Prompt 22: clouds

_Prompt 22: Clouds_

Legolas cast his smoke-stung eyes upward, seeking he knew not what - a way out? a sign from the Valar? What he saw made his heart leap, though was yet but a faint hope. Rolling in from all sides were thick black clouds, threatening thunderheads whose rumble could be dimly heard over the menacing hiss of the fire.

Aragorn followed the Elf's gaze, and drew Mairgret's attention likewise. Together they stood in silence awaiting their fate. "Yes, yes," Legolas whispered at last, and within a second or two their faces were washed in pelting, chilly rain. All around, the fire died protesting and sputtering in thick billows of smoke.

_tbc_


	23. Prompt 23: safe

_Prompt 23: Safe_

Out of the grey eddies of smoke emerged a grey-beard with grey hair, long grey robes, and a pointed grey hat.

"Are all safe here?" he shouted to the little group huddled in the middle of the stream.

"Aye, Gandalf, we are," replied the Ranger, striding gladly towards him. "And I suspect we have you to thank for that, do we not?"

Gandalf smirked beneath his beard. "It was good chance I came along, my lad," he said. He gestured towards a gaudily-clad figure crumpled on the ground nearby. "Yon Harad court jester was a poor excuse for a magician, but he wrought mischief enough, I wager."

From Aragorn's side, where she had shyly slipped her hand into her new friend's, Amye piped up, "He was a very bad man, and you saved us. Are you a wizard?"

_tbc_

_[Monday's instalment - a little early!]_


	24. Prompt 24: angel

_Prompt 24: Angel_

Gandalf looked gravely down at the little girl, and tipped the brim of his hat to her. "I am called many things by many people, Miss Amye, and 'wizard' is one of them."

Amye gaped at the mysterious old man who knew her name without asking, and retreated rapidly to her mother's embrace. They had all clambered out of the stream and now stood dripping on the fire-ravaged bank.

"It is a good question, Mithrandir," put in Legolas with a teasing twinkle. "Just what exactly are you?"

"Naught but a humble messenger and servant, as you well know, Elf," replied Gandalf, "but I have a few practical uses." And with that, a warm wind swirled briefly around them all, drying their clothes, to everyone's great comfort.

_A word of explanation, probably longer than the drabble, is necessary. "Angel" was a difficult prompt because there is no such thing in Tolkien's legendarium. However, angels are commonly described as immortal but lesser beings who are sent as messengers from God to humans; likewise, the Maiar, of whom Gandalf/Mithrandir/Olorin is one, were sent by the Valar to Middle Earth to aid its inhabitants. So yes, Gandalf is an angel!_


	25. Prompt 25: poetry

_Prompt 25: Poetry_

That evening they sat around a much tamer blaze: a comfortable and useful campfire. Amye had snuggled up in Aragorn's lap and fallen asleep, much to Gandalf's amusement.

"What is your road, Thorongil?" the old wizard asked, using Aragorn's current assumed name. "And is it common knowledge that you ride it?" He was concerned that the Harad magician's attack had been directed specifically at the future King of Men, and that Aragorn's identity had been penetrated.

"Lothlorien is my next destination, and yes, I ride as the official ambassador of Rohan." Aragorn understood the cause of the wizard's concern. He shrugged. "I do not know…" he said wearily. "Perhaps I will have to keep riding… it seems my road never ends."

Gandalf nodded in understanding, and began to chant softly:

_Roads go ever on and on,  
__Over rock and under tree,  
__By caves where never sun has shone,  
__By streams that never find the sea;_

Aragorn joined in.

_Over snow by winter sown,  
__And through the merry flowers of June,  
__Over grass and over stone,  
__And under mountains in the moon._

_tbc_

_[The poetry is Tolkien's, of course. Was there perhaps some Coleridge lurking at the back of his mind? "Where Alph, the sacred river ran / Through caverns measureless to man / Down to a sunless sea". Maybe it's just Coleridge lurking at the back of *my* mind when I read this]._


	26. Prompt 26: save

_Prompt 26: Save_

Gandalf did not stay with them long, but he spoke long and earnestly with Aragorn and Legolas as mother and child slept by the fire. Then he disappeared again into the night.

Early the next morning, the little party arrived at a neat and modest farmhouse. "Mairgret!" shouted a broad-shouldered young man who had been toiling in the front yard. Mairgret slid nimbly down from the horse and ran to him.

When she was finally released from his bearhug, Mairgret said, "My Lords, this is my cousin Gerritt. Ger, these fine gentlemen saved Amye and me…" And with the words, as though they suddenly made real the whole ordeal, Mairgret, so stoic and courageous through the worst of everything, collapsed suddenly in tears.

_tbc_


	27. Prompt 27: birthday

_Prompt 27: Birthday_

Legolas and Aragorn, satisfied that Mairgret was reunited with her family, were ready to resume their journey to Lothlorien, but a small person had something to say about that.

"Stay!" she demanded.

"Amye!" reproved her mother.

The little girl pouted. "Surely you have not forgotten what day it is, mama!"

"Of course not, sweetheart," said the distressed mother, who had indeed forgotten. "It is six years this day since Amye was born," she explained to her cousin.

"Well now," Gerritt said, "that is a fine reason for a feast!" And he was as good as his word, and would suffer no demur until the warrior friends joined their celebration.

_tbc_


	28. Prompt 28: gift

_Prompt 28: Gift_

At length, sated on pies and sweetmeats, the two travellers perforce resumed their journeyings. But there was one thing the Ranger had to do first.

"Amye," he said. "Do you know what this is?" In fact, it was a broken buckle from his tack, which he had pocketed and never found time to mend. But it was shiny and oddly-shaped, so it would do.

Amye shook her head, staring.

"It is an ancient charm, from the mysterious, enchanted people who live in the great Greenwood Forest." (Legolas bit back a smile). "It has very powerful magic, Amye. It can chase away any nasty monsters who try to bother you in your dreams. Just keep it under your pillow, and you will be safe." Amye took it in awe, and quickly handed it to her mother for safe-keeping.

As they rode away, Legolas said sadly, "I wish Mairgret could be given the same gift so easily, my clever Ranger."

_tbc_


	29. Prompt 29: river

_Prompt 29: River_

"There is no bridge or ford across the Anduin this close to Lorien," Legolas said to Aragorn, "this much I know. But where would it be best to swim across?"

"A little upstream of the Golden Wood the river is shallower and slower," replied the Ranger.

Even at the spot Aragorn knew, though, the Anduin was an arduous swim for horses and Man. And even Legolas seemed to be breathing heavily at the end.

"I … never knew you … to be … breathless before!" exclaimed Aragorn.

"I merely … feign it … to keep you company!" retorted Legolas.

With a laughing, dangerous glint in his eye, Aragorn tackled Legolas to the riverbank for his impudence, and for a short time they were both breathless for quite another reason.

_tbc_


	30. Prompt 30: lord

_Prompt 30: Lord_

Fortunately both Elf and Ranger had regained their feet and their dignity by the time they were approached by an ancient and very beautiful silver-haired Elf.

"A right good welcome to Lothlorien, Thorongil," he said, bowing slightly. "And it is a great pleasure to meet King Thranduil's son at last."

"The pleasure is mine, Lord Celeborn," replied Legolas, bowing far more deeply in return, as befitted Celeborn's great age and famed wisdom.

"I know something of both your errands," Celeborn said, ushering them politely down a path between the towering mallorns. "And I know, too, of their urgency. But the day grows late, and my wife has asked me to ensure you are well settled; tomorrow will do for grave discussions." He paused at the foot of a set of stairs winding up an enormous treetrunk. "You will find food, drink and a soft bed in the _flet_ at the top of this tree."

Celeborn bowed gravely again as the travellers thanked him. "May Irmo grant you potent dreams," he replied.

_tbc_


	31. Prompt 31: high

_Prompt 31: High_

The stairs were broad and flat, easily accommodating two climbers abreast as they wound their way round the bottom of the massive treetrunk. Legolas and Aragorn started decorously enough, but as soon as they were sure Lord Celeborn's eyes were no longer upon them, Aragorn started to run upwards. To his surprise, Legolas did not join him, but followed immediately behind, a step or two below.

"What are you doing?"

"Watching you," replied Legolas, reaching out a finger to poke what he was watching.

Aragorn grinned broadly and landed a playful cuff to the blond head. Then they chased each other, in merry competition, all the way to the top.

Celeborn chuckled, shaking his head.

_tbc_


	32. Prompt 32: candle

_Prompt 32: Candle_

From the _flet,_ it was possible to wander far out upon the massive branches of the mallorn and sit or lie in shallow hollows that seemed made by the tree for exactly that purpose - and perhaps they were.

"The magic is strong in this place," said Legolas appreciatively. "I have not felt so safe in a long while."

Aragorn took the Elf's hand. "I could live happily here," he remarked pensively.

Legolas gave him an indulgent look. "For a few weeks, perhaps. Then you would grow bored and be gone, doing all you must do in the world."

Aragorn turned to face him. "But we could meet here sometimes, could we not?" he urged.

"That would please me much," replied Legolas simply. His attention was caught by the flicker of a candle on the paths below them, sharply visible in the growing dusk. The _elleth_ bearing the candle moved slowly and aimlessly.

"Galadriel," said Aragorn. "She is much troubled, I fear."

_tbc_

_[There's a new poll at my profile page, if you're interested!]_


	33. Prompt 33: sea

_Prompt 33: Sea_

Legolas dreamed of the sea, and knew he was dreaming. He stood upon a long sandy strand, listening to the waves and tasting the salty moisture brought by the sea-breeze to his lips.

Spotting a fishing vessel far out upon the water, Legolas thought upon the day he would board ship to take his long trip to Valinor. He had never yet felt the sea-longing his elders spoke of. "What is it like?" he had once demanded of a pale old Elf.

"It is like the absence of a beloved, but ten times worse," came the answer, and sure enough, that Elf left for the Grey Havens just days later.

Legolas shuddered and hoped he would be spared a long, long time. In the corner of his dreaming eye, he saw a certain mortal approaching casually, shuffling his feet in the sand. Legolas smiled; yes, there were many reasons to stay in Arda.

_tbc_


	34. Prompt 34: shore

_Prompt 34: Shore_

"Now we are at sea," said Aragorn whimsically, as the waves washed up around them where they sat, then retreated. "And now we are on dry land. So it must be, I think, at the moment of death, trembling on the brink, neither one thing nor the other."

Legolas looked at him curiously. "You are in a morbid mood, _mellon_," he commented.

"Am I? Perhaps. Men ponder on these things now and then, and the shore is a borderland where it is easy to think of other passages into deep unknowns. Your people, too, pass the shore, and it is an ending of sorts."

"True," said Legolas, startled by the echo of his earlier thoughts, "and for some of us that might be a kind of death."

Aragorn regretted the melancholy he saw on the Elf's face. "What ails me? To waste such a lovely dream in sadness! Let me enjoy your company in this beautiful place, even tho' it be unreal."

Legolas did not contradict him, but he knew their _fëar_ travelled together in this dream, and it was as real, in its way, as anything in the realm of the _hröa_.

_tbc_

_mellon_ - friend  
_fëa (plural is fëar) - _spirit  
_hröa_ - body


	35. Prompt 35: sand

_Prompt 35: Sand_

The sun shone upon the beach with the full force of mid-day. Aragorn strolled peacefully along the sand, pausing often to examine a strange piece of sea-weed washed up by the water, or an unusual pattern left by the retreating waves. Scattered everywhere were tiny, translucent paired shells, open like colourful butterflies, their first practical purpose achieved, and now existing only for their beauty.

At the thought, Aragorn's eyes automatically sought the most beautiful sight on the beach and found him, lying golden and open to the sun's beams.

With that curious, unalarming changeability that time has in dreams, it suddenly became night. Legolas turned his head lazily and caught Aragorn's gaze. Aragorn took a sharp breath. Like the sand, Legolas turned from golden in daytime to silver at night.

_tbc_


	36. Prompt 36: hair

_Prompt 36: Hair _

Aragorn grew bored of swimming in the moonlit sea long before Legolas did. The Ranger sat instead upon a small dune, enjoying the quiet sounds of the night, and watching the shadows rush to shore beneath their curls of restless water.

Out of the wave-shadows rose the Elf, glistening in Ithil's pale glow as the water dripped reluctantly down and off his pale, nude form. "Your mouth is gaping," he observed to Aragorn, though it was but gentle mockery.

"I swear you are a kelpie, or some other sea-faerie that we hear of in our ancestors' tales. You look ready to tangle any bewitched mortal man in your hair and drag him, confused but willing, to his watery death!"

Legolas laughed aloud and, seizing Aragorn's readily-yielded wrists, bound them loosely in lengths of yellow hair, then pulled the Ranger tight into his embrace.

"Come with me," he murmured, and he took Aragorn gently back to the daylight world, where the Man woke in the Elf's arms, his hands buried deep in golden tresses.

_tbc_


	37. Prompt 37: water

_Prompt 37: Water_

"Attend me," said Galadriel after they had broken their fasts. "There is much that is disquieting in the news you have brought, and I would gaze in the Mirror." And she led them down into her garden, into the deep hollow where a stream splashed gently down from the fountain high above. Filling her silver ewer, she poured the clear water into the wide, shallow basin where it sat upon its tree-like pedestal.

"Do you wish to look within, son of Arathorn?" she asked the Ranger.

"Nay, my Lady, I do not. I fear to see something I will try to prevent, and I have oft heard that is the surest way to bring about the dark possibilities your mirror shows."

She nodded. "You are wise beyond your years, young man. But I must look nonetheless." She bowed her head over the water for a short time. Then she sank forlornly to the ground, one hand to her lips, waving away Legolas' concerned attempt to help her up.

"Ah, woe is me!" she whispered. "It begins again!"

_tbc_


	38. Prompt 38: fifty

_Prompt 38: Fifty_

"Sometimes I wish, _melethril-nín_, that you had no Mirror," said Celeborn to Galadriel fondly. "For what use are predictions which may never come true?"

"It was no prediction I saw, _hervenn_, but the very present truth," said the Elf-Lady sadly. "You know that I perceive the Dark Lord and know his mind regarding the Elves, but this time the Mirror showed me his image clearly, and he knew I watched." A shudder rippled through her. "He said, 'Spy if you wish, Elf Witch! For you are helpless to stop me; my Powers grow apace, and soon my collection of pretty baubles will be complete, including the one you bear so proudly upon your finger!' He hissed then, and puffed himself up to resemble a dragon, and laughed through his smoke. 'I shall even tell you how long you have to prepare, silly pretty one! Fifty years - that is all; fifty short years, and it will all be over for you and your golden trees and your insipid little paradise on the Anduin!' "

"Fifty years?" said Legolas, aghast. "It is but a day…"

"For you and for the Dark Lord," replied Aragorn firmly. "But it is half a mortal man's life, and much may be accomplished in preparation. Sauron puffs himself up indeed, to boast so!"

"Brave heart!" said Galadriel. "We will have much need of your spirit and courage for those fifty years and more."

_tbc_

_melethril-nín - _my [female] lover  
_hervenn_ - husband


	39. Prompt 39: artistic

_Prompt 39: Artistic _

"I did not know that Sauron ever showed his person," said Legolas to Celeborn. "All of the images I have seen of him showed him as a werewolf, or a serpent, or, indeed, as merely a great red eye."

Instead of replying directly, Celeborn said, "Let me show you something." He led the way into a small room whose walls were elaborately decorated in paintings. Dominating the darkest wall, as if deliberately shrouded in gloom, was an enormous, black-clad warrior, face blank, the whole figure glowing with an menacing red halo and seeming about to burst out of the frame to murder those who dared to look upon him. Surrounding him were snarling wolves and hissing snakes.

"This is a somewhat… artistic representation," said Celeborn. "Sauron changes shape as others change their boots, but I have faced him in battle many times, and I can assure you that this is how he appears, though the artist has utterly failed to convey the ugliness and danger of him."

Legolas drew back from the horrible painting without realizing he was doing so. "It is quite ugly enough," he said quietly. "Who was the artist?"

"I was."

_tbc_


	40. Prompt 40: blood

_Prompt 40: blood_

Aragorn sat in silence with Galadriel for a short while. "You seem discouraged, my Lady," he ventured at last.

Galadriel would not feign cheer for this honest Man. "The water in the Mirror often runs red with blood these days," she said. "I fear for my land and people, and it grieves me that I can do naught for those who live outside its borders." She looked Aragorn frankly in the face. "Your path will be drenched in blood, Ranger: that of others, and your own. Does not that dismay you?"

"Aye, my Lady," said Aragorn, rubbing uncomfortably at his ear. "But the alternative is to submit meekly to the Darkness, and that is not possible. I would rather float dead down a river than kneel to Sauron."

She nodded, lips pressed tightly together. "And still we must not shed your blood needlessly, nor too soon. You tell me that Mithrandir fears that Thorongil has become known to the Enemy. I think he is right. You must take another name, become more circumspect."

Legolas and Celeborn had re-entered the room quietly. "I know a place where his services would be most useful," said the ancient Elf Lord.

_tbc_


	41. Prompt 41: life

_Prompt 41: Life_

"The Shire?" said Legolas. "But why the Shire? It is so remote and isolated; who would bother with it?"

"Gandalf, for one," replied Aragorn, amused. "He is very fond of his _periannath_ [halflings], and takes a great interest in their welfare. And he is most concerned that these latest attacks will penetrate their borders and throw that innocent and defenceless people into turmoil."

"Ah, so the Grey One and I have happened upon the same idea," said Celeborn. "He talked to you of this?"

"A little," said Aragorn, "and he spoke most warmly of the little people. He says they are the race most full of life - the sheer, unadulterated joy of it - in all of Middle Earth; that of all peoples, they are the happiest, though they do not realize it in their little political bickerings and family feuds. He says," and Aragorn related this with a half-believing quirk of the lips, "that when he is with them he is happy and full of life too."

"You will set yourself as patrol to protect that life and happiness, then?" asked Galadriel.

"Aye, I will."

_tbc_


	42. Prompt 42: death

_Prompt 42: Death_

"Thorongil must die," said Galadriel decisively.

"I agree," replied Aragorn, though with some reluctance. He fingered the starry brooch which had clasped his cloak for many years. "Will you care for this? I can no longer wear it. Though it is the badge of all of my clan of the Northern Dunedain, yet in the Southern lands, it is well known as the mark of Thorongil."

Galadriel patted his hand gently as she took it from him. "It will be safe here until it is time to wear it once more," she said. "Meanwhile, I will send messengers to Rohan and Gondor to advise them of Thorongil's most unfortunate demise in an ambush of orcs upon the road to Lothlorien."

Aragorn considered his cloak, which bore Rohan colours, and put that aside also. Celeborn went to a large chest and pulled forth a dark green travelling cloak, heavy and durable, with a concealing hood. "Will this serve your purposes?" he asked.

"Most excellently," replied the Ranger.

"What will you name yourself?" asked Legolas, who had watched all this in anxious silence.

"I cannot think of anything," replied Aragorn after a pause.

"Did not Amye give you a name when she could not get her tongue around 'Thorongil'?"

Despite his sombreness, Aragorn chuckled at the memory. "Aye, she called me 'Strider'!" He considered. "In truth, it is a serviceable name to use in the Shire. Strider it shall be."

And so it was that on that day, Thorongil died and Legolas took Strider to his bed.

_tbc_


	43. Prompt 43: feather

_Prompt 43: Feather_

Legolas lay still in their featherbed, his limbs heavy with bliss. Upon his chest, Aragorn snored peacefully, having fallen deeply asleep after exertion, as Men are prone to do. The Elf ran his fingers tenderly across his lover's brow, then equally tenderly across his exposed flank.

"How passionately you live, _melethron-nín_," murmured Legolas.

His eye was caught by a flutter high above them. It was a tiny feather, balanced precariously on the top edge of one of the gossamer bedcurtains. Legolas smiled at the thought of the energy that had driven the down so far from its mattress.

As he watched, the feather drifted from its perch, and began a long, lazy descent through the morning sunbeams, wafting this way and that. Before it reached the floor, Legolas had dropped into reverie.

_tbc_


	44. Prompt 44: grant

_Prompt 44: Grant_

With reluctance, they resumed their journey, but Galadriel knew how to ease the way a little. "It is not our custom to let valued guests depart without gifts to mark our esteem," she said as they approached the door. She drew forth a small vial, stoppered, and smiled at Legolas as she opened it and tipped a little of the glistening contents on to her fingertip. "I hope you will find this gift a practical one, Legolas," she said. "We have found this slow liquid to be greatly useful for softening horse-leather, for keeping bow-wood flexible, and …for many other things." She leaned close to the Mirkwood Elf's pointed ear, and murmured a few words that made Legolas flush bright red. "The vial seems small, but the liquid renews itself within," she said. "Use it in good health, _mellon-nín_."

From a drawer, she withdrew an object to present to the Ranger. "Gandalf brought us this when he last visited," she said, and sharing a mirthful look with her husband, she added, "but Celeborn flatly refuses to use it! I am sure Gandalf will not mind at all if we pass it to you." Aragorn examined the long, curly pipe with great interest. "It is of Shire make," the Elf-Lady told him, "and the vile stuff that they burn at this end is called pipeweed."

"I have burned pipeweed once or twice before, my Lady," confessed the Ranger, "but never in such a handsome pipe as this."

"And one last thing," said Galadriel, drawing each of them close for a cool, comforting kiss on the forehead. "May the Valar grant to you safe travels, and to us your speedy and frequent return to this place."

_tbc_


	45. Prompt 45: air

_Prompt 45: Air _

Their road lay together for a short time yet, past Mirrormere and through the Redhorn Gate, under the frown of Mount Caradhras.

As they climbed towards the pass and the air grew chillier, Legolas' spirits seemed to improve, and he began to hum a little.

"Is it the cool air you like, _mellon_?" Aragorn asked him. The Ranger was glad of his heavy new cloak.

"Aye," replied the Elf. "I am Northern bred."

"I too," Aragorn reminded him, "and I sometimes find the heat of the southern climes lies heavy upon my chest, while a nip in the wind speaks to me of freedom and action."

Legolas breathed deeply and frowned. "Yet we should beware," he told Aragorn, "for this refreshing breeze comes to us by the grace of Caradhras, and he has ever been a most capricious host, with little patience for those who crawl across his feet and invade his mighty solitude."

_tbc_


	46. Prompt 46: wind

_Prompt 46: Wind_

At the highest part of the pass, Legolas' warning about Mount Caradhras' volatile moods proved all too justified. It was still too early in the year for snow, but there was a sudden downpour of rain, making the road treacherously muddy underfoot. Worse, the breeze had turned to a high wind, now driving their horses into sideways skitters, now making it almost impossible to make headway, now swirling in all directions as the bitter blast smashed into the sheer cliff walls and vented its indignation upon the travellers.

Legolas had the worst of it, for though there was no better horseman in the Elven kingdoms, the near weightlessness of his body made him the plaything of the tempest, and more than once he was close to being lifted from the stirrups and unhorsed. Concerned, Aragorn was about to suggest that it would be better to dismount when Legolas obviously came to the same conclusion, and slipped down from the saddle.

They walked in single file along the narrow path, cliff on one side and sheer drop on the other. Both had placed themselves between the nervous horses and the precipice. Then, rounding a corner, they were assaulted by a prodigious gust that had Aragorn clinging to his horse's neck to keep his balance.

"Legolas!" he shouted through the storm's howl. But there was no answer, and to his horror, Aragorn realized that the Elf had been blown over and was clinging by his very fingertips to the cliff edge.

_tbc_


	47. Prompt 47: hands

_Prompt 47: Hands_

With one swift motion, Aragorn seized Legolas' wrists and hauled him back to safety. Scrambling to his feet, Legolas was about to utter his thanks, but instead found himself slammed by another gust of wind into the side of his patient horse. Aragorn immediately clamped a steadying arm about Elvish shoulders, and grasped an Elvish wrist with his other hand.

"You do not wish to let go?" asked Legolas, grateful but amused.

"Nay," replied Aragorn, more gruffly than he intended. "While this wind persists, I will take no more risks."

"The path is narrow," Legolas pointed out.

Aragorn's answer was a swift lengthening and looping of the horses' reins so that one horse could lead the other. Then, putting himself on the outside of the path, he seized Legolas' left wrist in his right hand. And Legolas permitted it.

The path broadened, and the wind died. And somewhere along the way, the grip upon the wrist changed into a meeting of palms and a curling of fingers. Eventually, Aragorn glanced over at the Elf's serene, windblown face and wondered if he presumed too much. He slackened his grasp slightly, but Legolas immediately tightened his own fingers.

Nothing needed to be said. They walked hand in hand all the way to the place of parting.

_tbd_


	48. Prompt 48: promise

_Prompt 48: Promise_

"Will you not accompany me to Rivendell?" Legolas urged. "Surely your family…"

Aragorn shook his head. "They have seen me recently," he said, "and Galadriel says that I may catch up with Gandalf in Bree, if I hasten."

They were sitting in a glade just off the junction of their roads, sharing rations and deferring the inevitable parting. "Promise me…" began the Ranger in hesitant tones.

But Legolas hugged his knees to his chin and said desolately, "How can either of us promise anything in this world?"

"Promise me then, that _if you can_, you will meet me in Lothlorien next midsummer eve," rejoined Aragorn, "and I will promise likewise."

Legolas turned to him, gripped his shoulder, and made the promise with his eyes even before it passed his lips.

_tbc_


	49. Prompt 49: kiss

_Prompt 49: Kiss _

When there was no delaying any longer, Legolas tugged Aragorn behind a tree to shield him from the road. Capturing the Ranger's face between his hands, Legolas kissed him, not sadly or delicately, but with a ferocious passion that would have caused Aragorn to stumble backwards had he not been returning the kiss with equal fire. For a few moments it seemed as though they bruised and wounded each other in their frantic, futile struggle to merge and never have to part more.

Soon enough, though, they drew apart a few inches, resting their foreheads together, and then the Elf apologized wordlessly with gentle lips, and the Ranger did likewise.

Legolas' arms tightened around Aragorn's back. "Let them have their Thorongils and Striders," he said in a low tone. "Aragorn is mine, and mine alone!"

"As Legolas is mine. I will claim you again at midsummer, _meleth_; do not doubt it."

And they parted.

_tbd_


	50. Prompt 50: road

_Prompt 50: Road _

The land of Eregion was not particularly beautiful, but it was flat enough, and the road was broad and smooth for riding. Aragorn started to hum Gandalf's favourite travelling song.

_The Road goes ever on and on  
__Down from the door where it began.  
__Now far ahead the Road has gone  
__And I must follow, if I can,  
__Pursuing it with eager feet,  
__Until it joins some larger way,  
__Where many paths and errands meet.  
__And whither then? I cannot say. _

_Roads go ever on and on  
__Under cloud and under star,  
__Yet feet that wandering have gone  
__Turn at last to home afar.  
__Eyes that fire and sword have seen,  
__And horror in the halls of stone  
__Look at last on meadows green,  
__And trees and hills they long have known. _

In the meanwhile, the life of a Ranger was not so very bad after all. "Come on, horse!" cried Strider, and with wind in their manes, ardour in their hearts, and puissance in their limbs, man and steed galloped away the miles of one more lengthy road.

_finis_

_And once again, my acknowledgment and gratitude to Tolkien, both for being the author of the evocative lines of poetry above, and for the more general inspiration. _


End file.
